virgin bikini waxing. who does this to a child??

[kittyonthebeam]

I am and .

This is officially one of the most vile things I have seen!

Course it's not right, but if I could have avoided the spiders legs whilst wearing my swimsuit I'd have been much happier as a 9yo...

that has made me feel sick.

I am very pale but with very very dark hair, and lots of it.

DD has inherited this from me. She is like a little monkey. she even has a hairy back.

If i found research to show that this virgin hair theory was true and that waxing her legs/underarms/back would mean that she would have less of an issue when she grows up i would consider it at an older age. but her pubic hair? not in a million years should she be aware of puberty or what men like at the age of 9!!

If this is your choice of news website what can you expect!

What adults do to their bodies is one thing but children??? no way!

I'm imagining the conversation between mother and child going

"eat your breakfast sweetie we are going somewhere really fun today"

"ooh great, the park? swimming? the beach?"

If I have a daughter, I will be taking her for permanent laser hair removal as soon as she hits puberty.

I remember locking myself in the bathroom begging my mother to let me shave my legs when I was 9, because my hair was already noticeably different and darker than that of the other girls my age. I refused to go swimming, never wore shorts, never enjoyed the sunshine.

IME, every single woman I've ever heard say that girls should be taught to accept their body hair, has really fine, almost invisible hair it would be easy to accept!

I think it's unfair to judge these mothers, who are most likely giving their daughters a loving gift for life.

Hair removal from a young age is very common in many cultures.

I too would dispute that waxing reduces hair growth. I've got dark hair and fair skin, and have been waxing my legs for over 30 years, from the age of about 14. They grow back just as thick and luxuriant as ever within a very short time. It may have been different if I had started when I was 8, but I doubt it, they were pretty thick then as well

Re the 'virgin' waxing, I think it actually sounds worse than it is (though it doesn't sound great, admittedly) because of the use of the word virgin. And presumably, they are talking about bikini waxing (ie not inside the pants line) rather than brazilians? Brazilians would be vv unreasonable.

slouchingtowardswaitrose

Save some money and get laser treatment now then.

i think it sounds far worse than it actually is. and tbh, its no worse than piercing babies ears.

It's not true about it not growing back. I started waxing very young (my mum relented and let me do it after I locked myself in the bathroom and ripped bits of skin off trying to wax my legs) and have been doing it regularly since and it still grows back just as much as it ever did.

How do you explain to a 9 year old that she will be forced to go swimming with black curly pubic hairs hanging out of her swimsuit, when nobody else has them, and everyone will notice, and bully her? (And they will, trust me)

It's pretty easy to explain a wax. No doubt a 9 year old girl will already be aware that mummy shaves or waxes legs, underarms, and possibly bikini line? My very young male child knows I do this, because suddenly sometimes my hairy legs are smooth!

You say, simply, 'if you have your hair waxed before you hit puberty, it will never grow in as dark or as thickly as mine, and you won't have to shave or wax like I and most women do. If you would like me to take you for said wax, I will.'

Doesn't seem that difficult.

It's not like you're saying 'men like smooth women, let's get you waxed so you can get a man.'

Of course, the fact you are already exposing her to your own grooming with regard to hair removal, means you are already sending messages about attractiveness and social acceptability. Unless you plan to stop grooming in solidarity with a 9 year old, it's hypocritical to judge this procedure so harshly. Children hit puberty very early now.

ps Posie, I already am

I don't wax and I certainly won't encourage my dd to do so. I am very pale (think luminous) with very dark hair. I hate the whole must remove all your body hair crap. I have occasionally succumbed to societal pressure and shaved/Immaced my underarms and once or twice my bikini line and it was horrible. Itchy and uncomfortable for days and days. Sometimes I do my legs, but to be honest the look before and afterward is really not much of an improvement. Pasty just doesn't look that great. So I go for the low effort route, leave it as it is, and wear a bikini with a little skirt. If that causes other people discomfort, well that's their problem.

My nine year old dd has just grown her first couple of public hairs and it was a cause for some excitement between us (although I really hope that she's not on her way to early puberty, as my periods were horrible as a teenager). I certainly wouldn't be taking her to have them removed. I wouldn't get my son waxed so why my daughter? She is beautiful just as she is.

Oh, and I have never been bullied for my curly black hairs. In fact no one has even mentioned it - they might bitch in private, but I couldn't give a toss.

Sry just back from travel, jet-lag central.

I stumbled across this website as I was looking for a link of a darth vader guy robbing a bank which friend sent me

I have light skin and dark hair and was laughed at when I had curly hair showing around my bathing suit crotch when I was 14 Cue: I bought french pants and a bikini top.

I am nearly 30 now and after this baby I will seek laser treatment. I have spent my life just as happy and comfortable as my blonde downy haired GFs. If a guy wouldn't like me for my hairy arms then he can fuck right off.

If I had a tache or looked like a wolf, then yes maybe I'd have gone for more drastical stuff at a younger age but at 9 years old it is bloody ridiculous to drag your daughter to have her pubes waxed!!! I think this constitutes child abuse as she is not of an age where she understands the long term effects, not to mention the pain.

I think a 15, 16 year old can make that decision, but at 9?? No way! What is wrong with instilling a good self-confidence in your child to enable her to laugh off silly jokes and bullying and to address the teacher/school if your child is being laughed at? I'd be knocking on the doors of those parents who put my kid down for groth of hair... Seriously, what is wrong with this world?

wld also like to add that NOTHING can guarantee permanent hair removal except laser treatment.

waxing is painful and when you stop the thinned out hair will come back just as it was before. Or why else would eyebrows grow back despite you plucking them???

The accompanying photograph of two pre-pubescent girls, skimpily dressed and adopting "provocative" poses says a lot about the schizophrenic attitude towards children today.

I always understood that the more you plucked, waxed, shaved, etc. the more densely the hair grew back. Am I wrong in this assumption?

Judge away. I am well versed in the holier than thou feminist arguments with regard to body hair. Start a thread in the appropriate section and I might join you in some more banter.

I'd still take my child for virgin waxing if, as a pp mentioned, it has proven successful in inhibiting adult hair growth. It's not like I'd be getting them to Hollywood her, FGS, but instead remove the hairs outside a normal pair of knickers. Not a big deal IMO.

ps laser hair removal actually isn't necessarily permanent - however research has shown that it can achieve permanent 'reduction' of hair after 1 year of end of treatment. Elecrtolysis, if correctly done, is the only method proven to be truly permanent.

ps MMJ have you done cross-cultural research re hair removal originating in pornography? Just wondering as it's a thousands of years old practice in some cultures.

How utterly depressing, the whole thing.

STW, so if you say NOTHING guarantees permanent removal of hair except electrolysis, why would you take your dd to have her pubes trimmed in such a painful way? Wouldn't you just pay up for her comfort? (Apart from the fact that she might not care about those nasty girls making jokes as you did when you were young.)

Which culture are you referring to? Which culture promotes hair removal in 9 year olds??

There can be no guarantees re effectiveness because every person's hair and skin colour and hormonal make-up is different. Also, 'permanent,' with regard to hair removal, is a legal word and it's definition varies from country to country.

Permanent reduction is a huge benefit though which is why, if virgin waxing was not effective, I'd offer her laser treatment. I'd like to see clinical evidence about virgin waxing, because if it is effective, it is significantly less expensive than laser and MUCH less painful than electrolysis, which is incredibly painful and incredibly time-consuming and expensive, and can cause scarring.

Bikini waxing is not extremely painful anyway. Much less than lower leg waxing, especially tops of legs with little fat/muscle covering. I would also have her legs and underarms waxed, with her permission of course.

Anyway all of this would just hurt for a second. Not as painful as repeated waxing in adulthood, not as time-consuming as shaving, not as painful as teasing, lack of confidence, etc.

It's pretty likely I'd have a daughter with hirsutism, as it runs in my family. I'm not talking about taking a child with normal body hair.

Anyway, taking a 9 year old for waxing is not about making 9 year olds hairless, it's about making the adults they will become hairless. Big difference. If you have to get the hairs before puberty, you have to get them around that age. If it works. We don't know, I don't think.

And...yes, a hirsute child WILL care about those nasty girls. And boys. And adults. And society. Fact. No matter how 'supportive' and 'positive' her mother is about her hairiness, telling her it doesn't 'matter' (which is what my mother did, and it trivialized my feelings).

Re the cultural stuff, I was saying that to counter the argument that hair removal practices are patriarchal and stem from infantalizing porn. And...not.

Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome...in fact prehistoric humans, male and female, have been removing hair from bodies including genitals for thousands of years.

Only in the West has hair removal for women been slow to catch up.

I find all this judgement quite shocking. Who needs patriarchy when you have other women?

Oh, and I like pierced ears on little girls too. Might as well show my true colours.